Odds against me in Griffith: LNP candidate

The Liberal National Party's Griffith by-election candidate Bill Glasson has acknowledged history and the odds are against him after casting his vote in former prime minister Kevin Rudd's old seat.

While Labor holds the inner Brisbane electorate by a slender three per cent margin, Dr Glasson, a former Australian Medical Association president and ophthalmologist, would need to overcome 93 years and two months of history to snatch a seat off the opposition.

"The last time a by-election was won was 1920," he told reporters outside Coorparoo State School accompanied by his daughters Gemma, 28, and Nicola, 24.

"So the odds are against me, the bookmakers are against me but I'm a bit like Black Caviar - I do feel I've got a big heart."

After casting his vote, Dr Glasson comforted an elderly woman outside the polling booth who was being treated by paramedics.

Federal Attorney-General George Brandis earlier greeted him outside the school gates.

With Greens preferences helping Labor win at the 2013 election, Dr Glasson appealed to Greens voters to give him their second preference as protesters dressed in orange fish held placards demanding action on climate change and the Great Barrier Reef.

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"I appeal to all the Greens voters, all those minor party voters, please consider me as No.2 on that ticket," he said.

But he also promised to repeal the carbon tax and indicated that pushing for a conscience vote on gay marriage in the coalition party room would not be a top priority, despite his support for marriage equality.

"I won't be lobbying for that or pushing anybody but all I can say is I think the priority at the outset is to get the economy sorted out," he said.

An hour earlier, Labor candidate Terri Butler, an employment lawyer, voted at Morningside State School with her husband Troy Spence, an Australian Workers Union official.

"I'm very nervous," she told reporters.

"It's going to be very tight."

Ms Butler said Mr Rudd had spoken to her on Friday, but joked she wasn't married to the former prime minister when asked why he hadn't voted with her.

"I'm actually not married to Kevin - I don't know if people are aware of that," she said.

"He's been generous with his advice and support."

Greens candidate Geoff Ebbs, who was also campaigning at Coorparoo State School, said he expected a swing against the Abbott government.

"I think there'll be a swing to the left of politics," he told AAP.

"The way the numbers are sitting now, it will be up to Greens preferences what happens here.

"People are very concerned about the reef, and they're concerned about cruelty to refugees."